Same Old Lang Syne
by Feirdra
Summary: Slice-of-life some years after the Bladebreaker glory days. Songfic to Dan Fogelberg's 'Same Old Lang Syne', TyKa.


**A/N: **Written for the OSEGOBF's Challenge #2. Second songfic ever, first completed TyKa ever. n.n Enjoy!

**_Same Old Lang Syne_**  
-

_Met my old lover in the grocery store  
The snow was falling Christmas Eve…_  
  
The snow crystals came drifting – spiraling, spinning, pirouetting down, like so many miniaturized glassy carousels in the encircling arms of one of the icy, buffeting winds. They whistled their way through the shaded city in the wintry dusk, guided only by the glow beyond the clouds themselves.  
  
_I stole behind her in the frozen foods  
And I touched her on the sleeve  
  
She didn't recognize the face at first  
But then her eyes flew open wide  
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse  
And we laughed until we cried_  
  
A few wispy stragglers reached out hollow fingers to snag and rattle a pair of windowpanes in the city graying out into night, and one of the occupants in the snug little room looked up briefly, his expression lost amid a tangle of colorful lights lying cold against the frosted glass.  
  
_We took her groceries to the checkout stand  
The food was totaled up and bagged  
We stood there lost in our embarrassment  
As the conversation dragged_  
  
Kinomiya Takao looked back at his unexpected guest, who was quite immobile in the chair where he'd left him. Between the two young men a slightly stunted Christmas tree stood half-clothed, strewn with threadbare tinsel and bedecked with a couple of dangling ornaments.  
  
_We went to have ourselves a drink or two  
But couldn't find an open bar  
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store  
And we drank it in her car_  
  
"Kai?" His erstwhile teammate took a long draught from the already more than half-empty bottle, passed it to the younger man; watched him with half-closed eyes that burned like autumn's ashes. Takao took it without a word; he didn't normally drink, but he raised the bottle to his lips.  
  
_We drank a toast to innocence  
We drank a toast to now  
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness  
But neither one knew how…_  
  
Takao had finished putting up the last ornament by the time the wind died down and the night drew in a collective breath for that moment where time ran laughing on a glittering carousel and seemed unwilling to alight. The clock on the wall displayed a Cheshire Cat grin and the needles ran to nowhere. It struck midnight, and still the snow fell.  
  
_She said she'd married her an architect  
Who kept her warm and safe and dry…_  
  
Kai brought the stepladder, Takao the lifeless star that had lain in wait all year in some dusty corner of his closets; everything done in silence, like an old movie reel. Takao had tarried at the window to turn on the strings of cheery Christmas lights, and the frost, creeping, reclaimed the glass his clumsy fingers had disturbed.  
  
_She would have liked to say she loved the man  
But she didn't like to lie_  
  
Kai put up the star this year; despite its lack of electric accessory, its fake gilded array seemed to touch each corner of the room and make the tree stand taller. As Kai came down the ladder, he turned; rough, deliberate fingers descending upon rollicking waves of ocean-washed hair, questing down a darkening jaw line, and that was all.  
  
_I said the years had been a friend to her  
And that her eyes were still as blue  
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if I saw  
Doubt or gratitude…  
  
She said she saw me in the record stores  
And that I must be doing well  
I said the audience was heavenly  
But the traveling was hell_  
  
They sat down, and opened another beer.  
  
_We drank a toast to innocence  
We drank a toast to now  
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness  
But neither one knew how…  
  
We drank a toast to innocence  
We drank a toast to time  
Reliving in our eloquence  
Another 'auld lang syne'…_  
  
The wind howled.  
  
The eaves trembled.  
  
The beer was making them light-headed, and the frost was sneaking up on the last corner of the window.  
  
_The beer was empty and our tongues were tired  
And running out of things to say…_  
  
Takao kissed Kai behind the hopelessly jumbled Christmas lights, and the snow continued to fall in silence.  
  
_She gave a kiss to me as I got out  
And I watched her drive away…_  
  
He woke to dawn, a hangover, and an empty house.  
  
_Just for a moment I was back at school,  
And felt that old familiar pain…_  
  
The doorbell rang. The mailman smiled a toothpaste smile.  
  
_And as I turned to make my way back home…_  
  
"Merry Christmas," Takao told the waking city softly, and closed the door against the draft.  
  
_The snow turned into rain…_  
  
The snow had stopped, and the streets were turning to slush.  
  
-  
_end_


End file.
